Biography

Dr. Laugero is a systems physiologist and research nutritionist with over 18 years of experience studying the interrelationships between chronic stress, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function, food intake, and energy metabolism. Dr. Laugero, a California native, received a Bachelor's degree in biological science from California State University Fresno and a Ph.D. in physiology from the University of California, Davis. As a National Research Service Award NIH Fellow, Dr. Laugero received his postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco where he studied the interrelationships between chronic stress, neuroendocrine function, and energy metabolism. Subsequently, he spent 4 years in the biotechnology industry as a drug discovery scientist at Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Laugero joined the WHNRC as a Research Nutritionist in 2006. Over the past 8 years at the WHNRC, the Laugero lab has focused on translating his previous findings on the interrelationships between stress and nutrition in animal models to humans. Dr. Laugero is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, and a founding member of a multi-campus Stress, Environment, and Weight Center (SEW).

Research Program

The Laugero lab (Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Lab; https://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/docs.htm?docid=20877) conducts research aimed at supporting the Human Nutrition National Program, which is to define the role of food and its components in optimizing health throughout the life cycle for all Americans by conducting high national priority research (http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/programs/programs.htm?NP_CODE=107). The Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Lab at the WHNRC studies the mechanisms of stress-eating and nutritional and metabolic regulation of stress response systems to help expose new targets aimed at improving metabolic and mental health. A central aim of the research program is to identify nutritional and metabolic phenotypes that help explain individual variation in the brain’s response to psychological stress and link between stress and chronic disease. A multidimensional approach (Nutritional Psychoneuromics) is used in clinical and community studies. Methods enlisted by the Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Lab include functional brain imaging (fMRI), metabolomics, neuroendocrine and autonomic nervous system assessment, dietary assessment, and focus groups. Currently, the Stress Biology and Nutrition Research Lab is investigating the effects of dietary glutamate on body weight maintenance following dietary-induced weight loss (https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?accn_no=423649), the metabolomics of stress resilience or vulnerability (https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?accn_no=426826), and the effects of consuming a healthy diet on stress system responsiveness (https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?accn_no=426826). Dr. Laugero is the lead scientist representing the western region for an ARS multi-site, community study, titled Healthy Eating and Lifestyle for Total Health (HEALTH; project#0500-00087-001-00D). The HEALTH study was conducted to address in 5th grade children and adults factors that prevent and promote Dietary Guideline adherence and how these factors relate to obesity across different racial ethnic groups.

Research Accomplishments

Dr. Laugero’s recently published neural and neurocognitive findings in adults (e.g., http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23954410) and children (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23211377) showed that degraded executive function may promote vulnerability to emotional overeating as early as preschool ages which, in turn, may lead to learned habits of sugar and high-fat food overconsumption over a lifetime. Strategies to lower stress and improving executive control during early childhood hold promise to enable healthier decision-making about food.

Some persons are more successful than others at losing and keeping off weight lost by dieting. Dr. Laugero and WHNRC colleagues discovered that person-to-person differences in weight loss were inversely associated with salivary cortisol concentrations (a stress index) and decision-making functions characterized by greater risk taking in obese women who underwent a weight loss regimen. Thus, higher decision making functions and stress neuroendocrine pathways can influence or be altered by the process of dieting, and these correspond to the amount of weight loss achieved (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21565212).

The majority of the US population does not meet recommendations for consumption of milk, whole grains, fruit, and vegetables. One overarching research recommendation was identified by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee: More studies are needed to determine the barriers for adhering to the DGA, particularly among special populations. A multi-site study (Healthy Eating and Lifestyle for Total Health; HEALTH) was conducted to understand barriers and facilitators to adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for four nutrient-rich food groups in fifth-grade children and unrelated adult caregivers across six Human Nutrition Research Centers. For both unrelated adults and children, barriers and facilitators related to personal/behavioral and environmental factors were identified, highlighting modifiable conditions that can be used by health professionals in designing educational programs or even tailored intervention programs which could help individuals to meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23871110).

Discovered a new glucocorticoid-metabolic-brain feedback regulatory pathway that prompted an entirely new model of chronic psychological stress and glucocorticoid function.These findings elicit a new perspective on why it has been so difficult to motivate long term adoption of the Dietary Guidelines and body weight following restricted food intake and body weight loss.

Research findings led to patent applications, an issued U.S. patent, and contributed to the creation of a new company, Psylin Pharmaceuticals.